• Gh24601

    Has this been authenticated by any process?
     

  • margaret

    @fec3d93ed1b6c4cf2c3a6cedcac46ce6:disqus 

     That’s what I would  love to know.  Has Shakespeare’s hair ever been exhibited before?

                         

  • Peter Hewitt

    No tests have been undertaken to ratify their authenticity as far
    as I can tell from the object history file – this is probably due to the fact
    that the SBT does not take the claims attached to them particularly
    seriously.  This is perhaps due to an
    incorrect assertion in 1971 (when these items were formally accessioned) that
    they were the work of William Henry Ireland (1775 –1835), the infamous Shakespearian forger.  The hair was ‘rediscovered’ in the SBT’s
    stores in 2011 alongside a handwritten letter, dated January 10 1819,
    supposedly by the poet Samuel Rogers, who notes that he acquired these locks
    via Mrs. Hornby, the last resident of Shakespeare’s Birthplace.  She left there 1819 or 1820.  We know that Hornby did sell numerous
    ‘relics’, including bits and pieces from chairs, settles, etc.

    In terms of display, I have found no record of them in any
    official or unofficial catalogues from 1868-1910, the period when the fashion
    for locks of hair was probably at its highest. 
    They were probably mounted – on vellum with a handwritten label – by
    J.O. Halliwell-Phillips (his signature is on the back), however Rogers notes in
    his letter that he added the wax to stop them falling to pieces.  They are, almost certainly, early nineteenth
    century forgeries, but I think Rogers thought them to be genuine.  As has been noted elsewhere, it is improbable
    that a lock of hair would have survived from the sixteenth or seventeenth
    century in this state – it would have been enmeshed with some sort of trinket,
    such as needle lace worked with human hair and worn as a bracelet, or a hollow
    ‘mourning’ ring with hair curled inside it. 
    William Henry Ireland admitted to making a number of convincing finger
    rings in this way.  This is, therefore,
    evidently a poor forgery done by someone with little knowledge of the early
    modern period.  That being said, to
    determine the real age of the hair carbon-dating is the next step.

    Peter Hewitt – Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Shakespeare Institute